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Originally Posted by jstkruzn
found that handling was better without tailgate, especially on interstate. mpg improved when almost all driving was "city." While economy was reduced with interstate driving, the frontier handled much better. Installed bed cover and combined economy has increased .7mpg; and handling is as good as without tailgate. I like the look of the truck much better with the cover, also. i think there are certainly different characteristics with different setups (cc v. kc, short bed v. long bed and ford v. nissan for instance.) so, don't take just my word for it, or even just mythbusters. be skeptical, get credible sources, then hands on experience. be cynical of information without references. the "grapevine" is not credible. would like to know where the info on bed flex came from. Someone should try the experiment that I performed (with all configurations). results should be able to be replicated. I did not record shear forces.
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I watched the Episode in question. The reason you get better handling with the tailgate down is because the air moving over the cab comes directly down onto the the rear of the bed creating a downforce to the rear wheels. This is also what causes the mileage to go down.
With the tailgate up (as stated above) the aerodynamic forces create a captive vortex in the bed, essentially causing the airflow coming from the cab to transition over the bed of the truck instead of hitting the rear (tailgate area). Little to no downforce. That's why the beer cans look pretty swirling around in the bed and rarely float out the back of the truck...because of this vortex.
